Gary Olsen
Encyclopedia
Gary Olsen was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actor.

Olsen was born in London and lived with an aunt and uncle, after losing both his parents at an early age. He attended the Archbishop Tenison's Church of England School in Kennington
Kennington
Kennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....

. After school he joined various junior stage groups and toured with fringe theatrical companies, such as Incubus, and Lumiere and Son, until late 1976. At this point he immersed himself in the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 scene until returning to theatre in 1978. Later he helped develop the musical production Up on the Roof, in which he starred in 1987 at London's Donmar and Apollo theatres.

He made his screen debut in 1979 as Rory Storm
Rory Storm
Rory Storm was an English singer and musician. Born Alan Caldwell in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contemporaries of The Beatles in the late 1950s, and early 1960s...

 in The Birth Of The Beatles
Birth of the Beatles
Birth of The Beatles is a 1979 biopic motion picture, produced by Dick Clark's company and directed by Richard Marquand. The film was released into cinemas worldwide except in parts of the United States, where it was shown as a TV movie.-The film:The film focuses on the early history of 1960s rock...

, and appeared in numerous British films and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 programmes, including playing PC Dave Litten in the first series of The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

, but achieved fame only with the role of Ben in the sitcom 2point4 children
2point4 children
2point4 Children is a 1990s British sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porter family; an average family that is persistently faced with surreal situations and sheer bad luck....

 (1991–1999). He played a starring film role as Arthur Hoyle alongside Samantha Janus
Samantha Janus
Samantha Zoe Womack is an English actress, singer and director, both on television and stage. In recent years she has been best known for playing the role of Ronnie Branning in EastEnders, but made her name in the early 1990s as Mandy Wilkins in Game On, and also represented the United Kingdom in...

 and Neil Morrissey
Neil Morrissey
Neil Anthony Morrissey is an English actor, media personality and businessman. He is best known for his role as Tony in Men Behaving Badly....

 in the rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 comedy, Up 'n' Under
Up 'n' Under
Up 'n' Under is a comedy by English playwright John Godber, first staged at the Hull Truck Theatre in 1984. The sequel, Up 'n' Under II, followed in 1985....

. He appeared in many TV adverts, notably the 1996 National Westminster Bank advertising campaign.

In addition to his screen appearances he made numerous stage appearances including Rocky Horror Picture Show and What the Butler Saw
What the Butler Saw (play)
What the Butler Saw is a farce written by English playwright Joe Orton. It premièred at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1969. It was Orton's final play and the second to be performed after his death, following Funeral Games the year before....

. He also played 'Pope Liberty III' in the Australian production of the controversial musical Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom
Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom
Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom is a controversial stage musical first performed in Australia in 1989, written by Daniel Abineri and is a satire on religion and rock and roll.-History:...

.

Olsen also displayed his comic talents as Steve in The Comic Strip Presents send up of The Fly
The Fly (1986 film)
The Fly is a 1986 science fiction horror film co-written and directed by David Cronenberg. Produced by 20th Century Fox, and Brooksfilms, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz. It is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, but retains only the basic premise of a scientist...

, called The Yob. He also starred with Brian Bovell
Brian Bovell
Brian Bovell is an English actor.He has appeared regularly on television since 1980, as well as featuring in the cult film Babylon released the same year. He has also appeared in the play Where There Is Darkness in 1981, winning the 1982 London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting...

 in the 1986 TV series Prospects
Prospects (TV series)
Prospects is a British television comedy drama series that was written by Alan Janes and originally shown on Channel 4 in 1986. Created by Euston Films who had a pedigree of producing successful, gritty drama such as The Sweeney and Minder, it followed the exploits of two East End 'geezer'...

 about two likely lads in the Docklands trying to get ahead but usually failing.

After a ten month fight with cancer, Olsen died in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia, where he had emigrated following his diagnosis. He left a widow, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n second wife Jane, and their two children, a son and a daughter. He was 42 years old.

Television roles

Olsen played a small but pivotal role in the 1981 BBC TV series The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...

 as "Red-Haired Man", a street gang leader, in episode 4 and again as an armed paramilitary officer named "Torrence" in the finale.

He played PC Dave Litten in 12 episodes of The Bill between 1984 and 1986 (as well as the 1983 pilot episode, Woodentop
Woodentop (The Bill)
"Woodentop" is an episode of the Thames Television series of one-off plays Storyboard. The programme was originally broadcast on 16 August 1983. It is also the forerunner to the long-running British police television series The Bill...

). In 1988, he appeared in the EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

 spin-off Civvy Street as the patriarch of the Beale family. His most prominent role was as Ben Porter in 2point4 children
2point4 children
2point4 Children is a 1990s British sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porter family; an average family that is persistently faced with surreal situations and sheer bad luck....

 (1991–1999). He also had leading roles in another two short lived BBC sitcoms Health and Efficiency
Health and Efficiency (TV series)
Health and Efficiency is a British situation comedy that was originally broadcast from 30 December 1993 to 10 February 1995 on BBC1 for a total of 12 episodes over 2 series...

 (1993–1995) and Pilgrim's Rest
Pilgrim's Rest (TV series)
Pilgrim's Rest was a short lived British sitcom which aired for just one series of 6 episodes on BBC1 from 31 July - 4 September 1997.Gary Olsen of 2point4 Children fame starred as Bob Payne. Recently divorced he sets up a roadside cafe named Pilgrim's Rest with his sister Tilly played by Gwen...

 opposite Gwen Taylor
Gwen Taylor
Gwen Taylor is an actress who has appeared in many British television programmes, including Z-Cars, Murder Most Horrid, Yes, Prime Minister, Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders and Belonging...

 for one series in 1997. From 1999–2000 he played Johno in the Daz Dogs
Daz
Daz may refer to:*Daz Dillinger, an American record producer and rapper.*Daz Sampson, a British dance music producer and vocalist.*Daz , a laundry detergent sold in the United Kingdom....

 adverts and sponsors.

Stage roles

Olsen was critically acclaimed for a number of his roles in musicals like Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cut and Thrust, Gorky Brigade, Welcome Home, The Pope's Wedding, Saved Dialogues, Metamorphosis, Serious Money, What the Butler Saw
What the Butler Saw (play)
What the Butler Saw is a farce written by English playwright Joe Orton. It premièred at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1969. It was Orton's final play and the second to be performed after his death, following Funeral Games the year before....

, Way of the World, and Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom
Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom
Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom is a controversial stage musical first performed in Australia in 1989, written by Daniel Abineri and is a satire on religion and rock and roll.-History:...

. He received particular praise for his portrayal of Moey in On the Ledge at the National Theatre in 1993. Two years later he appeared in April in Paris at the same theatre. His last stage role was as Evan in Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungarian.-Career:...

's Art, in 2000.

Film roles

  • 1979 - The Birth Of The Beatles (as "Rory Storm")
  • 1982 - The Sender (as "a patient"; non speaking role)
  • 1983 - Party Party (as "Terry the drunk copper")
  • 1997 - Up 'N' Under (as Arthur Royle)
  • 1998 - Alice Through the Looking Glass (as "Tweedle-Dum")
  • 2000 - 24 Hours in London (as "Christian")

Death

After a ten month battle with cancer, Gary Olsen died in Victoria, Australia, aged 42, where he had emigrated following his diagnosis.

Family

He married Candy Davis
Candy Davis
Candy Davis is an English actress and model. She won the Miss Nude pageant in 1982 and subsequently took on the role as the buxom blonde secretary, Miss Belfridge, on the last two seasons of the British sitcom Are You Being Served?...

 in 1982, they later divorced. He left a widow, Australian second wife Jane Anthony who he married in 1991, and their two children, a son Jake and a daughter India.

External links

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